Jack London/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. A boy, Tim, is in a wilderness in the winter. He is wearing a parka and standing on a dogsled. TIM: Mush! On, you huskies! North to Alaska! Come on, move. A robot, Moby, is tied to the front of the dogsled, along with several other robots. None of them is interested in pulling the sled. TIM: Aw, come on you guys. If we win this race, I promise I'll split the prize money with you! The robots beep and grumble at him. TIM: Ah, well, the prize is ten dollars. Every robot except Moby beeps and walks away from Tim and the sled. TIM: Hmm. That didn't go well. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, who was Jack London? I heard he was a good writer, but I don't know any of his stories. Can you tell me? From, Bowas TIM: Thanks for writing in, Bowas! Jack London was indeed a great writer from the early 20th century. He wrote a lot of short stories, but he also wrote novels, nonfiction, political essays, you name it! An image shows a middle-aged Jack London in a college classroom. TIM: London was born in San Francisco in 1876. An image shows a political map of the continental United States. The location of San Francisco is indicated on the map. TIM: His family was pretty poor, so Jack was expected to chip in to help make ends meet. By age ten, he was selling newspapers. An image shows a young Jack London selling newspapers on a city street. TIM: Although he dropped out of school at age 13 to work full-time, he never gave up his love of books. With recommendations from a friendly librarian, he read voraciously down at the Oakland Public Library. An animation shows a young London at a desk in a library. He is reading a book. There are more books piled on the desk. A librarian stands next to him. TIM: Anyway, Jack had an incredible youth. Before he turned 20, he had worked as a coal shoveler at a power plant; joined an army of unemployed men who marched on Washington; became a hobo who traveled on trains through the United States; and worked on a seal-hunting ship that sailed all the way to Japan! Images show London doing each of the things Tim describes. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, he sure did a lot of living! But after years of backbreaking labor, he decided to make a living with his mind, as a writer. At age 19, he returned to Oakland and finished high school. He even finished a semester at college before embarking on one more adventure. An image shows London at a desk in a classroom. TIM: Gold had been discovered in the Yukon region of northwest Canada, and London set sail to make his fortune. An animation shows London standing on the deck of a ship. He is wearing a parka and holding gold-prospecting equipment. TIM: It didn't work out so well. He failed to strike it rich, got very sick, and returned to California after less than a year. But he brought a mother lode of story ideas back with him. An animation shows London returning on the same ship. He imagines an igloo, a polar bear, a husky, and a trapper carrying animal pelts. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, two of his most famous novels, for example. The Call of the Wild was published in 1903. An image shows a hardcover copy of The Call of the Wild. TIM: It's told from the point of view of a dog named Buck, who's stolen from his owner's home and taken to Alaska, where he becomes a sled dog. There, he discovers the wild animal that lay hidden inside him. An image shows a picture of Buck on the book's cover. TIM: White Fang, published in 1906, is also told from the perspective of an animal, a fierce wolf-dog hybrid who is eventually tamed. An image shows a hardcover copy of White Fang. The animal Tim describes stands in a snowy forest, howling at the Moon. TIM: Many of London's short stories are set in the Yukon, too. To Build a Fire is one of his best, a classic struggle of man against nature. A guy falls into freezing water and has limited time to, well, build a fire and warm his body before he dies. An animation shows a man trying to build a fire in a snow-cave during a blizzard. TIM: You should read it. It's a real thriller. Tim holds an open copy of the book containing To Build a Fire as he speaks to Moby. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Actually, there's much more to these stories than just action and adventure. London was part of a new environmental consciousness in America. An image shows London standing next to Theodore Roosevelt in a snowy wilderness. TIM: Like Theodore Roosevelt, the president at the time, London felt that modern life had cut people off from nature. An animation shows a young man looking lost and alone in a busy city. TIM: In his view, spending time in the wilderness was essential to both physical and spiritual health. The same young man stands in a snowy wilderness. He becomes confident and muscular. He flexes his muscles, and his clothes rip. TIM: So even though Call of the Wild is about a dog, it's really aimed at us. Buck's journey from the comforts of civilization to the danger and thrill of the outdoors is, is like a recipe for modern people. An image shows Buck the dog at the head of a dogsled team. MOBY: Beep. TIM: True, most of us can't just check out of life and go live in the wilderness. But London also wanted to change how society was organized. Like many artists of his time, he was a socialist. That means he believed society's wealth should be shared, more or less equally, among all its members. An animation shows a pile of coins being divided and distributed evenly among a group of smiling faces. TIM: Much of his writing reflects that belief, centering on the daily struggles of the lower classes. In fact, the same year that Call of the Wild came out, he published People of the Abyss, a firsthand nonfiction account of life among the poorest residents of London, England. An image shows a hardcover copy of People of the Abyss. Its cover includes an image of people in a London slum. TIM: He also ran twice for mayor of Oakland on the Socialist Party ticket, and gave speeches and lectures on behalf of the cause. MOBY: Beep. TIM: You're right. He was incredibly productive. In fact, he tried to write a thousand words a day, every day. An animation shows London standing next to a desk. Piles of books appear on the desk as he watches. TIM: That's how he was able to fill up something like 50 volumes of prose in such a short time. He died of kidney failure in 1916, at just 40 years of age. An image of London fades as Tim explains when he died. MOBY: Beep. TIM: His legacy? Moby nods. TIM: Well, London's writing is admired more for its spirit than for any technical brilliance. At his best, he's thrilling and immediate. You can practically feel the Arctic wind when you read his tales of the North, probably because he really experienced it. An animation shows London on the deck of a ship, sailing through icy Arctic waters. TIM: Many later authors, from Ernest Hemmingway to Jack Kerouac, saw London's personal adventures as a model, not just for living, but as a way to fuel their art. Images of Hemmingway with a large fish and Kerouac hitchhiking join the animation of Jack London. MOBY: Beep. Moby has a notepad and a pencil. TIM: You're taking notes on our adventure? Moby nods. TIM: Cool. Tim and Moby stand in front of a bookstore. A display in the bookstore window advertises a book called Driven: "A Tale of Cruelty in the Arctic" by Moby Calrissian. The book cover has a picture of Tim on a dogsled. He is using a whip to force Moby and another robot to pull his sled. TIM: I've notified my lawyers, you know. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts